In many water use environments, water users would like to optimize various water usage criteria. For example, in an agricultural environment, a farmer may want to irrigate a field to maximize profit by decreasing water cost and increasing crop yield. As another example, a golf course owner may want to increase water use efficiency to minimize the course's demand for water and still keep an acceptable turf quality. To optimize water usage, a water user needs to be aware of the various factors that can affect the costs and efficiency of water usage. For example, the cost of water may increase during the summer months when supply is short. In such a case, a farmer may want to irrigate a field just before the summer months begin.
To optimize overall water usage of a region, the needs of many different water users may need to be considered. For example, if a region has different farm and non-farm water uses with different water demands that vary over time, then the optimization of water usage for the region should consider all the demands on the supply. In addition, the water usage of one water user may affect the water usage of another water user. For example, if a farmer places a high demand on water of a certain supply during a certain time period, then a downstream farmer may not be able to satisfy their demand from that same supply or an ecosystem demand to maintain minimum flows and levels may be violated.
It is currently difficult to assess and evaluate the various water usage supply and demand options. It would be desirable to have an effective way to analyze water supply and demand to optimize water usage criteria such as water cost and water use efficiency.